Embodiments of the present invention relate to the art of enterally feeding, and, in particular, concern the ability to enhance the control of delivery responsive to patients needs.
Patients that are unable to take food or medications due to the inability to swallow typically receive nutrition intravenously through a catheter, which is referred to as parenteral nutrition, or through a feeding tube, which is referred to as enteral nutrition. Enteral feeding is typically used to feed patients when there is no contraindication of the gastrointestinal tract present. In critical care areas, and for long term use, enteral feeding is advantageous and the preferred method of feeding because it provides nutrition and preserves the intestinal mucous membrane.
While delivery of nutrition enterally is useful and beneficial to patients, its effectiveness can be dependent on proper ordering, administration and monitoring of the enteral feeding. The administration of enteral nutrition is a multidisciplinary process that can be hindered due to breaks in communication, complexities of modern healthcare, and decreasing staff both at the bedside and at the nutritional support level. Risk of complications associated with the enteral delivery of food, increases as a result of gaps in communication.
Enterally feeding can be implemented using enteral feeding pumps that generally deliver a specified volume of formula to the patient at a rate selected by the user. For example, a healthcare provider can set an enteral feeding pump to deliver a prescribed volume of feeding formula at a prescribed rate. Once the pump is set, the pump delivers the feeding formula to the patient at the selected rate. A single enteral feeding pump can be a shared resource for use by a group of patients in a hospital. Each patient can have distinct enteral feeding requirements. If a feeding pump is utilized for different patients and is not properly re-programmed based on the enteral feeding requirements of the patient being fed, the patient can be at risk for improper feeding, which is highly undesirable.
Despite the attention given by healthcare providers to the management and practice of providing adequate nutrition to patients, the patients may be malnourished. For example, factors impeding the daily delivery of enteral nutrition, such as interruptions of enteral feeding to change a patient's body position or other prescribed orders, can result in underfeeding of patients.